The Winner!

“My husband and I couldn’t have planned a better vacation for us. We are celebrating our 10 year anniversary this June, and are now able to return to the same island where we vacationed for our honeymoon!”

How awesome is that?! (TIP: You can get to know Stephanie at her website. Be sure to check out her “Fun Facts” page – there are some listed there that made me laugh out loud!)

The Prize!

Stephanie has won two (2) round-trip tickets from her nearest airport, and hotel accommodations to Maui’s The Ritz Carlton Kapalua. And me? I’m pretty jealous – this place looks amazing! I may just have to convince Stephanie to hid me in her luggage….

Stephanie’s blog can be found at SomewhatSimple.com, and she can be Followed on Twitter at @SimpleStephD.

Congratulations, again, Stephanie! Have a fantastic trip!

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So what, you may ask, would we consider “quality” content? This Blog, who actually recently participated in our campaign for Tabasco, is a perfect example. I was in love with her site the moment I read my first post. I enjoy the telling of stories through so many photos (and good ones at that!), and she speaks to her readers in a language that’s relatable. I also really like that her entire site–not just the blog–is a resource for those who enjoy cooking.

With regard to IZEA, bloggers with fantastic content are eligible for more Opportunities in our blog marketing platform, and tend to earn more money. Advertisers benefit because they get better results on their campaigns.

Let’s take a look at the post she did for Tabasco, which is the perfect compliment to her non-sponsored content:

The title of the post is upfront and to the point. The reader knows what they’re going to get out of the next few minutes.

There’s then a breakdown of how to create the recipe, with rich, clear photos to accompany each step. The time and effort spent putting these photos together and sharing them on the site really shows the Blogger cares about what she’s giving her audience.

The remainder of the post can be found here.

I personally like this little feature where a variety of recipes are offered up.

Of course, the disclosure is included, which is required for any of our sponsored posts. The one thing that would take this post from great to outstanding, in my opinion, would be a video. A “how to” that accompanies the instructions. But I’m a fan of video, so that’s just me….

Now, while I do really like this blog I think there are a few things that could be done to make it exceptional!

• Remove the Twitter and Facebook ads and replace with the familiar icons. These two are just taking up space, and visitors recognize the Twitter and Facebook logos.
• Condense the ads to one column. While I think two colums is fine and they don’t overwhelm or clutter-up the site (like many do), one sleek column would look much better. Plus that would allow for more room for the great content!
• Throw an image or two on all the tabs. It would break-up the text (particularly on the ”Recipes” page), plus it’s another opportunity to see these amazing photos!

So what can YOU do to help improve the quality of your blog? Any ideas you’d like to try?

Awesome job, Recipe Girl! Keep up the good work. And now I’m sufficiently hungry from looking at your site I’m off to find a snack….

Other blogs we <3:

• What’s Cooking With Kids
• Mod Podge
• The Art of Manliness
• StephModo
• Nancy’s Baby Names

This is a post from: IZEA : Social Media Marketing

We were able to get our hands on a copy of Ted Murphy’s segment about sponsored conversations on E!’s “That Morning Show”. The spot originally aired last Friday morning, and we’re happy to share it with you here:

What do you think?

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Yup, that’s the E! Networks you’re familiar with I’m talking about! And our very own Ted Murphy recently taped a segment about sponsored conversations, and it will appear tomorrow on the network’s new entertainment news program “That Morning Show”. Pretty cool, huh?

(Featured on ThatMorningShow.com.)

The spot will last approximately five-to-six minutes, and will air sometime between 6:00-9:00am EDT. You’ll need to check your local listings to find out what channel E! is on in your market. For those folks in the Central Florida area it’s channel 65. We’ll try to get a copy of the package and post it here on the blog, for those who miss it or don’t get E! in their area. You might also want to follow us or “That Morning Show” on Twitter for updates.

Update 10.22.09, 9:20PM: I’ve been informed the segment will air just after 7:00am Eastern. Still working on trying to get a copy of the spot.

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Everyone knows how much we love our bloggers here at IZEA, and Tuesday that sentiment was validated yet again!

When the mail came Tuesday afternoon our Office Manager handed me a package (just so you know, I never get mail here at work) and needless to say, I was pumped! I opened up the package and it was full of awesome treats from one of our IZEA Insiders, Laurie!


Here’s a little back-story as to why she sent us this great surprise (stay with me here):

A few months ago we ran a blog marketing Opportunity with a few of our Insiders – the bloggers were a given a check from the Advertiser and were asked to put on an event to help raise money and awareness for a cause close to their heart. Drew, Corrin, Steven and Laurie all accepted this task wholeheartedly and, to be honest with you, it was awesome to see what they did.

We saw 2 bloggers raise money for Breast Cancer walk teams, one raise for the Northwest Indiana Humane Society and one for the Hope Unlimited Pregnancy Crisis Center (a group that helps expecting mothers facing tough decisions). We saw the bloggers put on Tweet-Ups, dinners, raffles, comedy events, (awesome) give-aways and they also took generous donations in the name of their charity. It was incredible how 4 people, pursuing 4 very different ventures, could make such an impact – it was very inspirational to say the least.

In addition to the events the bloggers put on, we ran a side contest and the blogger that generated the most buzz around their event would win an additional donation to their charity, as well as win a prize for themselves. The race was a tight one and went down to the wire, but Laurie was the one that came out victorious in the end by the slimmest of margins. We were able to donate additional funds to her team that is participating in the 2009 Race for the Cure that benefits Susan G. Komen this month.

As a thank-you Laurie sent us a bunch of goodies from her event – they include pencils, stickers, mints, pins, a keychain, a scarf (which I have already put on and modeled for everyone on this side of the office) all Breast Cancer awareness themed. Ashley has already claimed some of the stickers because he loves the slogan – “Save the Ta-Tas”.

This campaign was an awesome one to be a part of and I have to thank all the bloggers involved for their hard work, kinda hearts and overall awesomeness in everything they did. Special shout-out to Laurie for sending us souvenirs! To everyone at IZEA, if you’re nice to me, maybe I’ll share with you!

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I think we can all agree the holidays are a time for giving, and we’ve just partnered-up with Sears and a group of bloggers to do just that. Similar to the recent Kmart campaign, we sent a group of bloggers on an exciting journey to spend $500 at their local Sears store…but not only to buy something but to “Grant A Wish.”

Check out the blogger’s site to see what great stuff they purchased with their $500, and enter for your own chance to grant a wish.

Here are the bloggers along with the links to their blogs posts and Opportunity pages:

Chris Pirillo:
- Blog Post
- SocialSpark Opportunity

Jim Kukral:
- Blog Post
- SocialSpark Opportunity

Steve Spalding:
- Blog Post
- SocialSpark Opportunity

Tamar Weinberg:
- Blog Post
- SocialSpark Opportunity

Aaron Brazell:
- Blog Post
- SocialSpark Opportunity

Liz Strauss:
- Blog Post
- SocialSpark Opportunity

Ted Murphy:
- Blog Post

Joseph Jaffe:
- Blog Post
- SocialSpark Opportunity

Don’t you want to make a little cash* and do something good at the same time?  What could be better?

* these are sponsored posts

This is a post from: IZEA : Social Media Marketing

Here’s a look at tips for the first week of December. Hopefully you’ll find them useful:

This is a post from: IZEA : Social Media Marketing

This is a post from: IZEA : Social Media Marketing

- GoDaddy
- VistaPrint
- Crazy Dog
- WhiteWalls Art Gallery
- …and more!

To view these and other affiliate Opportunities in the SocialSpark marketplace, click on the marketplace tab in the top navigation, select “browse opportunities” from the menu, then click on the affiliates tab.  You should see a screen like this:

 You can find out more information about each Affiliate Opportunity–such as requirements, campaign dates and payouts–by clicking on the name of the Opp, or the accompanying image. To ensure your potential eligibility for these and all other Opps make sure the information in your account it accurate and up-to-date.

What do you think about these affiliate Opportunities so far? We’d certainly like to hear from you.  And we welcome your feedback as the affiliate Opportunities being to spread from more Advertisers.

This is a post from: IZEA : Social Media Marketing

Along the way we’ll share information with each other, and you’ll start to feel more comfortable writing your own material (i.e., posts on your own blog), touring (i.e., marketing yourself), hobnobing with other rockstars (events & gatherings, both virtual and in-person) and ultimately playing the big arenas (becoming the ultimate rockstar).  In addition to being valuable as standalone material, I’m hoping these posts will compliment the efforts of the IZEA Insiders program, which will be kicking-off in January.

Now, there are tons of sites out there that provide extensive information on how to be the “best” and “most successful” blogger, but these tips are going to be topics I’ve personally chosen, that I think will help you become a better blogger. This is based on my two years with IZEA and carefully observing what’s going on in the social media industry. Ultimately I hope to help you think and gather information…have your own ideas…and make ultimately make more money!

I’d love to get your thoughts; feel free to share.  Here’s a snapshot of the items I’d like to cover:

I.    Marketing
II.   Content
III.  Traffic
IV.  Education

My hope is that collectively, all of these will help you become a more informed, aware, well-rounded blogger which will in turn provide you with more opportunities in the IZEA marketplaces. After all, we want you to be a success!

Are YOU ready for the big time?

This is a post from: IZEA : Social Media Marketing